Reinforced wrist watch band



Oct. 30, 1951 B. G. PEDERSEN 2,573,055

` REINFORCED WRIST WATCH BAND Filed Dec. 4, 1947 Patented Oct. 30,

UNITED STATES lPATENT OFFICE REINFORCED WRIST WATCH BAND Bernard G. Pedersen, San Francisco, Calif.

1 Claim. l

My invention relates to wrist watch bands and more particularly to bands or straps which are made of textile fabric, leather, or plastic material, and which include reinforcing means whereby to prevent loss of the watch through failure of the band material.

As is well known, wrist watch bands or straps are frequently made of leather, textile fabric, or plastic material, and that, moreover, leather and textile fabric bands frequently fail by virtue of the rotting of the strap which results from the intermittent soaking and drying in perspiration from the wearers wrist. Frequently, such rotting goes unnoticed, or at least the extent of it is not realized until the strap breaks and the watch falls off of the wearers wrist and is lost or damaged.

With the foregoing in view, an object of my invention is to provide an improved reinforced wrist watch band or strap.

A further object is to provide an improved reinforced wrist watch band or strap which includes reinforcing wires extending longitudinally of the strap, and which wires are substantially non-resilient whereby to readily conform to the contours of the wearers wrist.

A further object is to provide an improved wrist watch strap which is reinforced by substantially non-resilient wires and wherein one end of at least one wire is xedly attached to a metallic sleeve which is adapted to be connected to a wrist watch.

A further object is to provide in a wrist watch strap such as that last described wherein said sleeve is adapted to detachably receive the pintles of a wrist watch for detachably connecting the strap to the watch.

A further object is tc provide an improved re' inforced wrist watch strap which is reinforced by substantially non-resilient wires extending 1ongitudinally of the strap, which wires are ilxedly attached at one end to a metallic sleeve, and which sleeve incorporates therein a pair of oppositely directed spring loaded pintle pins for detachably connecting the strap to a wrist watch.

Other objects and advantages reside in the particular structure of the invention, combination and arrangement of the several parts thereof, and will be readily understood by those skilled in the art upon reference to the attached drawing in connection with the following specification, wherein the invention is shown, described and claimed.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a plan view of a reinforced strap according to the invention, an upper ply of one strap section being separated Application December 4, 1947, Serial No. 789,660

from the lower ply and turned back to show the arrangement of the reinforcing material;

Fig. 2 is a view like Fig. 1, showing the reinforcing material apart from the strap providing material;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view with parts broken away of one of the sections shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section taken substantially on the plane of the line 4--4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a bottom plan View of a wrist watch showing the strap sections fragmentarily, one of said sections being shown in longitudinal vertical section and disclosing a modied form of the invention;

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal vertical section with parts broken away and taken substantially on the plane of the line i-B of Fig. l.

In the drawing, and referring more specifically to the form of invention shown in Figs. l, 2, 3, 4 and 6, the strap according to this form of the invention comprises a pair of strap sections 6 and I2. The strap section 6 comprises a tongue section composed of a pair of plies 'I and 8 formed of a strip of any suitable strap providing material, which is doubled on itself to provide the bight 9 in which is secured in any suitable manner a sleeve I 0.' The sleeve I0 extends transversely of the plies l and 8, as shown. At this time, it should be pointed out that although the sleeve I 0 is preferably formed of metallic material, it is obvious that it could in some instances be formed of plastic, or the like. A reinforcing wire A is interposed between the plies 'I and 8 of the tongue section B, and is U-shaped to provide parallel legs connected together at one end by a flat loop d conforming substantially to the shape of the free end 4I of the tongue section 6. Free ends A of the wire A are transversely directed and secured to the sleeve I0 in any suitable manner, as by being soldered or brazed thereto.

The buckle section I2 of the strap likewise comprises a two-ply arrangement of a strip of any suitable strap material, one end of which is doubled to provide a bight I and also overlaps the other end, Fig. 6. The bight I4 is bifurcated and looped about a pair of laterally spaced minor sleeves ISa. Minor sleeves i3d are pivoted on a shaft or cross bar A3 of any suitable buckle I3. The tongue 42 of the buckle is pivoted on the shaft 43 and is interposed between the minor sleeves I3a and the bifurcations of the bight ill of the strap material. The other end of the buckle providing strap section I2 is looped to provide a bight I'I which is secured in any suitable manner to a sleeve 22 which corresponds to the sleeve l@ in the tongue providing section 6. The underlayer of the strap materia1 of buckle section I2 extends substantially to the buckle I3 and is secured to the free end of the upper layer by suitable stitching 20. Suitable looped keepers I9 are secured on the buckle section I2 in any usual manner, as by having loops thereof interposed between the plies. Such keepers are secured in place against longitudinal movement by lines of stitching I8 and 2 I.

The lines of stitching I8 and II extend longitudinally of the tongue and buckle sections 6 and I2, respectively, outwardly of the reinforcing wires A and B whereby to secure the plies of the tongue and buckle sections together in a well known manner. Such wires B extend longitudinally of the buckle section I2 and the ends B are securely fastened to the sleeve 22 in any suitable manner, as by being soldered thereto. The opposite ends of the wires B are securely fastened, as by being soldered, to said pair of minor sleeves I3, each of which is pivoted on the shaft of the buckle I3, as aforesaid.

Holes I4 for the buckle tongue 42 are formed through both plies I and 8 intermediate. the parallel portions of the wire B.

Referring now to the form of invention disclosed in Fig. 5, a wrist Watch 30 is provided with the usual laterally extending ears 3| each of which are formed with aligned apertures 32 for the reception of the usual pintle pins. In this form of the invention, the strap sections 33 and 31 conform in structure substantially to the structure of the strap sections previously described with the exception that the reinforcing wires A and B are secured to sleeves 311 each of which contains an expansive coil spring 35. The outer ends of each of the springs 35 bear against the inner ends of a pair of oppositely disposed pintle pins 36. The free or outer ends of the pins 36 extend outwardly of the sleeves 34, and upon depression of such pins against the action of the spring 35, permit the pins to be engaged in the apertures 32 in the ears 3I of the wrist watch. Thus, this form of the invention differs from that previously described in that the sleeves 34 themselves comprise the pintles for the watch. Sleeves 34 are rigidly secured as by soldering to the reinforcing wires A and B. Hence, the pintles and strap sections are substantially integral.

It is obvious from the foregoing that by virtue of the fact that the reinforcing wires are xedly secured both to the buckle and to the reinforcing sleeves I0, 22, or 34, that the entire watch is actually supported by the reinforcing wires A and B. Thus, there is no substantial strain on the material or sheath providing the strap material for the strap section 6 and I2. Consequently, such material may be very light weight and may comprise substantially delicate material. By forming the wires of highly flexible, non-resilient material, they bend readily to conform to the wrist shape and pass freely through the buckle I3 or like fastener.

While I have shown and described what is now thought to be the preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be understood that the same is susceptible of other forms and expressions. Consequently, I do not limit myself to the precise structures shown and described except as hereinafter claimed, it being understood, of course, that the term wire as used herein is to be construed and comprehending any flexible equivalent thereof such as cord, metal or metal substitute.

1 claim:

In a wrist watch strap, the combination with a pair of two ply strap sections, one of said sections having a buckle on one end, the other of said sections having a tongue formed on one end, both of said sections being formed with transversely extending bights Qn the ends opposite to said tongue and buckle; of a metallic sleeve in each ybight, spaced metallic sleeves engaging the rear cross bar of the buckle, a pair of flexible non-.resilient reinforcing strands of wearresist ing material and incorporated in each section between the plies thereof, said strands being laterally spaced and extending longitudinally substantially the entire length of each section, an end of each strand in each section being connected to one of said sleeves and the free ends of each strand section within the buckle-carrying por? tion connected rigidly to each of the bucklefenf gaging sleeves, whereby the opposite end of each strand in said buckle section is pivotally secured to said buckle by the spaced metallic sleeves and the opposite ends of said strands in said tongue section being merged to provide a bight in the region of the tongue end.

BERNARD G. PEDERSEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 177,131 Junkin et al. May 9, 1876 1,117,606 Schrenkeisen Nov. 17, 1914 1,151,708 Neff Aug. 31, 1915 2,007,538 Kraemer July 9, 1935 2,012,054 Ritter Aug. 20, 1935 2,165,115 Schultheiss July 4, 1939 2,191,314 Davis Feb. 20, 1940 2,280,490 Keltie Apr. 21, 1942 

